Akihiko Nakaya

Akihiko Nakaya (中谷明彦, Nakaya Akihiko, born November 3, 1957) is a successful racing driver in the Japanese Touring Car Championship and F3000, as well as regular presenter on the Japanese motoring show Best Motoring. Nakaya offered a distinctively analytical approach to reviewing cars on the show, providing detailed analyses of various vehicle components and explaining certain driving styles that were best suited to their characteristics. He was a regular driver of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions during Best Motoring races involving the I, II, III, IV, V, VI (including the Tommi Makinen Edition), VII, and VIII of the car, often recording lap times significantly quicker than other drivers of the same vehicle.

Nakaya's name was applied to a special preface-build of the Mitsubishi FTO, the Nakaya-Tune FTO, which appeared in 1997.

Nakaya was considered for a Formula One ride with Brabham in 1992, but the FIA would not grant him a superlicense on the grounds that Japanese F3000 (today the Super Formula Championship) was, at the time, not considered a stepping stone to F1. The ride eventually went to Giovanna Amati, who was more known for her wealth than talent and was replaced three races into the season by future World Champion Damon Hill.

Career results

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1987	Ralliart Australia	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	MNZ	JAR	DIJ	NUR	SPA	BNO	SIL	BAT ovr:5 cls:4	CLD ovr:9 cls:5	WEL		NC	0
	STP Mitsubishi Ralliart												FJI ovr:10 cls:5

† Not eligible for series points

Complete Japanese Formula 3 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Pts
1987	Le Garage Cox Racing Team	VW	SUZ 1	TSU 3	FUJ 1	SUZ Ret	SUG 13	SEN Ret	MIN 15	TSU 3	SUZ 6	SUZ Ret	5th	70
1988	Le Garage Cox Racing Team	Mugen	SUZ 7	TSU 8	FUJ 3	SUZ 2	SUG 1	TSU 2	SEN Ret	SUZ 2	MIN 2	SUZ 1	1st	46

Japanese Formula 3000 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Pts
1989	Marlboro Team Nova	SUZ 10	FUJ 11	MIN Ret	SUZ 8	SUG 2	FUJ 7	SUZ Ret	SUZ 9				10th	6
1990	Team Take One	SUZ Ret	FUJ 13	MIN 8	SUZ Ret	SUG 5	FUJ 4	FUJ Ret	SUZ 8	FUJ Ret	SUZ Ret		12th	5
1991	Cox Racing Team	SUZ 16	AUT 1	FUJ Ret	MIN Ret	SUZ 7	SUG 3	FUJ 8	SUZ 4	FUJ C	SUZ Ret	FUJ 15	6th	16
1992	Cox Racing Team	SUZ Ret	FUJ DNQ	MIN 11	SUZ Ret	AUT Ret	SUG 8	FUJ Ret	FUJ 9	SUZ Ret	FUJ Ret	FUJ 8	NC	0
1993	Cox Racing Team	SUZ	FUJ 17	MIN Ret	SUZ 10	AUT C	SUG 11	FUJ C	FUJ Ret	SUZ 15	FUJ Ret	SUZ 14	NC	0
1994	Speed Star Wheel Racing Team	SUZ 15	FUJ 15	MIN Ret	SUZ 10	SUG 10	FUJ Ret	SUZ	FUJ	FUJ	SUZ		15th	1

Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship (-1993) results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Pts
1986	STP Ralliart	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	Div.3	NIS 4	SUG 2	TSU 1	SEN Ret	FUJ Ret	SUZ 2				?	?
1987	STP Ralliart	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	Div.3	NIS 1	SEN 1	TSU Ret	SUG 18	FUJ 10	SUZ Ret				?	?
1988	STP Ralliart	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	JTC-1	SUZ	NIS 4	SEN 2	TSU Ret	SUG Ret	FUJ 15				?	?
1993	Auto Tech Racing	BMW M3 Sport Evolution	JTC-2	MIN 4	AUT 6	SUG 6	SUZ 6	TAI 7	TSU 7	TOK 8	SEN 22	FUJ NC	1st	134

Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship (1994-) results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	DC	Pts
1994	Team Take One	BMW 318i	AUT 1 11	AUT 2 Ret	SUG 1 10	SUG 2 Ret	TOK 1 13	TOK 2 12	SUZ 1 Ret	SUZ 2 21	MIN 1 10	MIN 2 5	AID 1 Ret	AID 2 8	TSU 1 12	TSU 2 Ret	SEN 1 10	SEN 2 9	FUJ 1 Ret	FUJ 2 23	20th	14
1995	Auto Tech Racing	BMW 318i	FUJ 1 16	FUJ 2 Ret	SUG 1 Ret	SUG 2 Ret	TOK 1 5	TOK 2 5	SUZ 1 8	SUZ 2 7	MIN 1 4	MIN 2 Ret	AID 1 Ret	AID 2 DNS	SEN 1 9	SEN 2 8	FUJ 1 Ret	FUJ 2 14			12th	31
1996	Auto Tech Racing	BMW 318i	FUJ 1 13	FUJ 2 13	SUG 1 7	SUG 2 Ret	SUZ 1 Ret	SUZ 2 Ret	MIN 1 17	MIN 2 5	SEN 1 1	SEN 2 19	TOK 1 5	TOK 2 7	FUJ 1 9	FUJ 2 8					10th	40
1997	Auto Tech Racing	BMW 318i	FUJ 1	FUJ 2	AID 1	AID 2	SUG 1	SUG 2	SUZ 1	SUZ 2	MIN 1 Ret	MIN 2 8	SEN 1 Ret	SEN 2 DNS	TOK 1	TOK 2	FUJ 1	FUJ 2			17th	3
1998	Object T	Toyota Corona EXiV	FUJ 1	FUJ 2	MOT	SUG 1 Ret	SUG 2 Ret	SUZ 1 Ret	SUZ 2 6	MIN 1 7	MIN 2 Ret	AID 8	FUJ 6								9th	32

Complete All-Japan GT Championship results

(key)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	DC	Pts
1998	Team Taeivon Ralliart	Mitsubishi FTO	GT300	SUZ 3	FUJ C	SEN 8	FUJ Ret	MOT Ret	MIN 6	SUG 2	5th	37
1999	Team Taeivon Ralliart	Mitsubishi FTO	GT300	SUZ 2	FUJ	SUG 5	MIN Ret	FUJ 3	TAI 8	MOT 7	6th	42
2000	Hitotsuyama Racing	McLaren F1 GTR	GT500	MOT 14	FUJ 11	SUG Ret	FUJ Ret	TAI 17	MIN 10	SUZ Ret	23rd	1
2001	Hitotsuyama Racing	McLaren F1 GTR	GT500	TAI 10	FUJ 13	SUG Ret	FUJ	MOT Ret	SUZ Ret	MIN	26th	1

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Car#	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1986	53	Mitsubishi Ralliart	Brad Jones	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	B	61	DNF	DNF
1987	16	Ralliart Australia	Gary Scott John French	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	1	154	5th	4th

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1989	Brun Motorsport From-A Racing	Harald Grohs Sarel van der Merwe	Porsche 962C	C1	78	DNF	DNF
1997	Team Lark McLaren	Gary Ayles Keiichi Tsuchiya	McLaren F1 GTR	LMGT1	88	DNF	DNF
1999	Team Goh	Hiroki Katoh Hiro Matsushita	BMW V12 LM	LMP	223	DNF	DNF